Issue - meetings

The Head of Planning and Building Control recommended that in respect of application 3/24/2147/VAR, planning permission be granted subject to the conditions set out at the end of the report.

The Principal Planning Officer said that the application 3/24/2147/VAR had been submitted under Section 73 of the Town and Country Planning Act which sought to amend an existing planning permission at Land East of Marshgate Drive, Hertford.

Members were advised that applications under Section 73 allow applicants to apply to amend an existing planning permission by varying or removing planning conditions.

The Principal Planning Officer said that any consent granted under Section 73 takes the form of a new planning permission. He said that this current application proposes to vary condition 53, the approved plans condition, of planning permission reference 3/23/2034/VAR to allow the substitution of existing approved plans with new plans that show the changes to the scheme.

The Principal Planning Officer said that the site consisted of approximately 3.48 hectares of vacant brownfield land, and that the land was formerly a gasworks site which was cleared some years ago and remained disused.

Members were advised that this current application only proposed changes to the development on the northern parcel of the site. The Principal Planning Officer detailed the location of the site and summarised the development in the surrounding area. He summarised in detail the relevant planning history and said that flood zones 2 and 3 extended over the eastern part of the northern parcel.

The Principal Planning Officer said that the site and the adjacent timber yard were allocated in the District Plan for a mixed-use development of around 200 homes. He said that the original application was refused by the council on 11 grounds and that this decision was appealed by the applicant. The appeal was subsequently allowed and planning permission granted.

Members were advised that the full planning permission was implemented in June 2021 but work however ceased in approximately April 2022, with the applicant citing increasing build costs and poor sales as the main reasons for stopping works. The Principal Planning Officer said that the implementation of the full planning application meant that the planning application remained extant and works could recommence at any time. He said that works never commenced on the outline planning permission, and that this outline permission had now expired along with the employment element of the scheme.

Members were advised that the original scheme was amended through a Section 73 application in 2024 and that this was the most recent planning permission on the site.

Members were advised that they were not considering or revisiting other parts of the already consented development. The new number of dwellings provided on the site would total 446 and the allocation of HERT2 as a strategic site in the District Plan meant that the principle of residential development on the site is established.

The Principal Planning Officer said that Officers had acknowledged that this proposed developed would result in a total housing delivery  ...  view the full minutes text for item 141